Margaret Atwood discusses her latest novel, "The Year of the Flood," just out in trade paperback. She is interviewed by Richard Wolinsky.

Margaret Atwood is a Canadian author, poet, critic, essayist, feminist and social campaigner.

Best known for her work as a novelist, she is also an award winning poet, having published 15 books of poetry to date.

Her novel "The Handmaid's Tale" received the very first Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1987. The award is given for the best science fiction novel that was first published in the United Kingdom during the previous year. It was also nominated for the 1986 Nebula Award, and the 1987 Prometheus Award, both science fiction awards.

Sean Ongley hosts a special on PICA's annual Time-Based Art Festival or TBA which draws artists from across the country and around the globe for a convergence of contemporary performance, dance, music, new media, and visual arts projects in Portland, Oregon. Entering its eighth year, the TBA Festival is presented September 9-19, 2010, with visual art installations running through October 17th. TBA celebrates artists from across and in-between all mediums, and activates the entire community with art and ideas.

A discussion of economic conditions in the area and what happens to people who lose jobs

Jay Thiemeyer hosts a special Labor Day discussion about Poverty, Unemployment and Jobs with guests Cassandra Garrison, longtime Portland anti-poverty worker and Jeff Terrel, a local Teamster who has been unemployed for a year and a half.

Milton Mills, M.D. critical care physician at Fairfax Hospital in Virginia, and member of the Board of Directors - Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine speaks on diet with a focus on USDA guidelines and minority populations.

And Michael Klaper, M.D. speaks on "The Heart of the Matter," a look at heart disease (of course), osteoporosis, and asthma and the role that diet plays in these diseases.

Both Dr. Mills and Dr. Kaper will be speaking at the Portland VegFest 2010 coming up September 18 and 19 at the Oregon Convention Center.

Ruth Kovacs, host of KBOO's "Prison Pipeline" show, presents a one-hour special on the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. She will have special guests, interviews, and music commemorating this tragic event. Please join us for this sobering special.

All day on July 30th, from 9am to 3pm, KBOO presents a special on Urban Sustainability with audio from this year's Village Building Convergence in Portland. This year's special will include lectures by Starhawk and Paul Cienfuegos, as well as interviews with Native American youth in Portland and a special report on the first ever chicken palace!

How much do you really know about Germans?Why is going naked on a beach or in a public park in Germany okay and why are there restrictions here? Is the going naked movement gaining strength in Oregon and could Germany serve as a model? How do Germans deal with nudity and is there a difference between baring it in the eastern part of Germany versus the west? Germany has fully developed single payer healthcare, so why does a German who worked in Portland and went back to Germany yearn to return here? And then there’s the World Cup.

For one hundred years, the Portland Rose Festival has served families and individuals from Oregon and beyond with events and programs that spotlight the riches of our Pacific Northwest heritage and environment while offering colorful examples of many international cultures. Attended by more than two million people, the festival is annually one of the top three most highly decorated events by the International Festivals & Events Association (IFEA) and in 2007 was named Best Festival in the World. Among the festival's most popular events are the Grand Floral Parade, one of the nation's top two all-floral parades, and the WaMu Waterfront Village, which features the Best Children's Programming in the World, according to the IFEA.

Betty Reardon's peace education work is noted for its integration of human rights principles and feminist perspectives on global issues into its substance and methodology. Reardon is the Founding Director Emeritus of the Peace Education Center at Teachers College Columbia University and the International Institutes on Peace Education, a global consortium for continuing education on issues of peace. Reardon participated in the plenary discusion "Three Powerful Women," during the 2008 conference of the Peace and Justice Studies Association and the Peace and Conflict Studies Consortium.

September 17th, 2008 is the second anniversary of the death of James Chasse Junior, Jim Jim, an early fixture in the Portland Punk Scene, a schizophrenic man living independently in Downtown Portland, and the victim of a brutal and fatal police beating.Two years ago James Chasse was attacked and beaten to death by Multnomah County Sheriff deputy Bret Burton, Portland Police officer Christopher Humphreys and Portland Police Sargent Kyle Nice. on NW 13th and Everett before a dozen eyewitnesses. Chasse was not suspected of a crime, he had not committed a crime, and had no criminal record. The officers beat him, kicked him, tasered him repeatedly, and broke 17 ribs and his shoulder.

Chasse was sent by paramedics to jail, where the Jail nurses refused to admit him. He died en route to a hospital in the back seat of a police car driven by the same officers who had earlier beaten him.

The Multnomah County medical examiner ruled that Chasse died of blunt-force trauma to the chest, but declared the death “accidental.” A grand jury later cleared the officers of criminal wrongdoing. The officers involved are all back on duty.

This interview is with Jason Renault of the Mental Health Associaton of Portland, and film director Brian Linstrom , about James Chasse, and the film project about his life, called Alien Boy.It also includes excerpts from the Public Memorial Service held for Chasse in October, 2006.

The film’s title comes from a song written about Chasse in 1979 by his friend, Greg Sage, lead singer of the seminal Portland punk band, the Wipers. He was also the subject of the song Nothing to Fear by Portland’s first all female punk band, the Neo Boys.

Pu-uhonua is a consistent voice for the just restoration of the inherent rights to self determination and self governanace of native Hawaiians. Mr. Kanahele is active in the movement to restore and advance the rights of indigenous peoples of the Americans and throughout the world. For the past decade, he has served on the Board of Directors of the International Indian Treaty Council. His work fosters alternative, compassionate appropriate and alternative solutions to the political,economic, social, and cultural issues and concerns faced by Native Hawaiians.

Kayse Jama spoke during the 2008 conference of the Peace and Justice Studies Association and the Peace and Conflict Studies Consortium. He participated in the plenary session "Localizing and Colorizing Peace and Justice." Jama recently organized for the Western States Center under a New Voices Fellowship. He lives in Portland, a refugee from Somalia and helped found the Western States Center.

Jo Ann Bowman spoke during the 2008 conference of the Peace and Justice Studies Association and the Peace and Conflict Studies Consortium. She participated in the plenary session, "Localizing and Colorizing Peace and Justice." Bowman is the Executive Director of Oregon Action, President of Coalition for a Livable Future, a Public Affairs Program radio host, and a former member of the Oregon State House of Representatives. She is President of Bowman Consulting SErvices and is also a Social Justice Training Professional.

Col. Ann Wright is the co-author of "Dissent:Voices of Conscience". A retired 29-year veteran of the Army and Army Reserves, she resigned from the Department of State ion March 19, 2003 in opposition to the Iraq war. Wright was a diplomat in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, MIcronesia, Afghanistan and Mongolia.

Wright participated in the plenary discusion "Three Powerful Women," of the 2008 conference of the Peace and Justice Studies Association, and the Peace and Conflict Studies Consortium.

Stephen Soldz is a psychoanalyst, psychologist and faculty member at the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis. He is a founder of the Coalition for an Ethical Psychlogy and organization leading the struggle to change the American Psychological Association policy on participation in abusive interrorgations. He discusses with host Linda Olson-Osterlund the role psychologists have played in the use of torture by the U.S. Military and Intelligence agencies and the current struggle inside the American Psychological Association to end this role.

You can visit his blog Psyche, Science, and Society and at the web site Psychoanalysts for Peace and Justice

Eric Lichtblau is the Justice Department beat writer for the New York Times newspaper. He and his partner in writing, Jim Risen were the recipients of the 2006 Pullitzer Prize fpr national reporting for their story that revealed the secret, warrantless wiretapping program of the National Security Agency. He talks about the Bush Administrations secret actions to rewrite or circumvent Civil Liberty protections most Americans consider the bedrock of our freedom.

His compelling and important book is Bush's Law; The Remaking of American Justice